Seen & Heard: Sam Spritzer

14012012

Sam Spritzer, a member of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), made his Seen & Heard profile debut in the January/February 2012 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine, which just arrived in member mailboxes. Seen & Heard is a new column in our magazine and we had 48 members get enthusiastically involved in our first outreach effort! We’ll be publishing one or two profiles (as space allows) in each issue of the bimonthly magazine. Other members previously profiled were Danielle Nicosia, John Kinstler, Judy Martin and Anne Taylor.

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My favorite answer? Sam finished the statement “How I want to be remembered…” with “a statue in front of Williamsville Town Hall!”

MY HEARING LOSS… I was born deaf but my parents didn’t know it until I was three years old. I was implanted in 2007 and 2008.

SAGE ADVICE… Quitting is not an option!

FUNNY HEARING LOSS MOMENT… I was watching tv in the family room and heard what sound like a gas-powered generator. It was so loud that it drowned out the sound of the tv. Finally, I had enough and asked my wife if she knew where the sound was coming from so I could go over and complain or something. Her response…the sound was crickets in the trees in the backyard.

WHEN I WAS LITTLE I WANTED TO BE A… veterinarian.

FAVORITE CHILDHOOD MEMORY… My first pet—a beagle named Mickey

THE HARDEST THING I’VE EVER DONE WAS… run a 5K race.

I LOVE THE SOUND OF… Dave Brubeck and Led Zeppelin.

IN MY SPARE TIME I… run foot races and will begin my quest to riding bike races, and then combine the two.

MY KIDS HAVE TAUGHT ME… what I was like when I was their age. Now, I couldn’t have been that bad!

WHAT’S THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD? The cochlear implant! Need I say more?

I HAVE A FEAR OF… heights. The only thing that will get and keep me up there is an airplane.

I SIMPLY CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT… God, my family and my CIs.

MY FAVORITE POSSESSIONS… Bike, camera, running shoes

WHAT IS THE KINDEST THING ANYONE HAS DONE FOR YOU? The love and outpour when I had my heart attack two years ago

I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED… with a statue in front of Williamsville Town Hall!

I love that Hearing Loss Magazine brings us the broad wealth of information about hearing loss. The stories about people with some form of hearing loss, how they live with it and overcome it is just totally inspirational. I would like to see more of those stories and less of the technical/educational. The latter can easily be found on the Internet.